The cops had the surrounding streets marked with cones already to try and direct the masses of red that had already gathered in the surrounding parking lots. It looks more like a college football parking lot then baseball, and it's truly a great sight to see. Excuse me for gushing over the fanship the last two days, but it's something that I'm just not used to, even though I attended a national powerhouse in Miami. We're still over an hour before gametime and they have let the crowd in. Even though its a Friday afternoon, these fans have come out to support their 'Huskers, as they have lined the grassy knolls out beyond the oufield fence and down the rightfield line.
The sunblock will be in great demand today for all, as the skies are blue with only a few clouds in sigt. Bottles of water will be too, with temperatures expected to climb to right around 90 degrees, it truly is a beautiful early summer day here in the heartland.
Manhattan is taking batting practice, and so this would be a good time to go over the starting pitchers for the Jaspers and the 'Huskers. Joba Chamberlain, a 6 foot 4 junior righthander, is set to make the start in Game 1 of the Lincoln Regional for Nebraska. Chamberlain has had a good season, but has not put up the same numbrs as he did a year ago with Big Red. This year he has gone 6-4 with a 3.84 ERA and for the second straight year has averaged more than one K per inning, as this season he racked up 94 strikeouts in 82 innings pitched. Chamberlain is an All-American who has been rated as a first round pick by Baseball America (8th best prospect eligible for the draft).
As for the Jaspers of Manhattan, they will have their ace on the mound in this first game, and what an ace he has been. Chris Cody finished 11-2 with a 1.45 ERA, and one of his two losses came against one of the teams in this regional, in Miami. His other loss was against Fairfield, in a game which he got no run support and lost 1-0. Cody finished with 8 complete games on the year, including the Fairfield loss, and from April 1 thru May 6, Cody had a stretch of 6 straight complete games.
Nebraska looks to have his hands full this afternoon against Manhattan's ace an it should be a very good matchup considering this is the 1-4 matchup.
The random note of the day: Manhattan won 32 games this season, which matched its highest total in school history, a feat which was accomplished in 2002 and all the way back in 1903.
So between Manhttan getting here via their automatic bid from the MAAC conference, and the fact they haven't played in the regionals since 1957, the Jaspers might be happy to just be here. But hey, I think they best part about this regional is the fact that they drew the three visitors from the furthest places they could!! It made for crazy travel, but it made for some fun storylines...More of those to come throughout the weekend...Looking forward to sitting back and relaxing in this air conditioned room I've got...(Writer's note...I will be handling Miami play x play all alone this weekend, meaning during Miami games, I will not be able to post as much as I will in the games which the Hurricanes arent' participating...But i will sure try as much as possible!!)...Can't wait for some baseball!